Korona: Europe’s Latest Cryptocurrency is Made in Hungary

Europe’s latest cryptocurrency, Korona, which its Hungarian founders claim is more stable, safer and cheaper than the others currently on the market, was launched in Budapest on February 15.

“Over the next few years we are going to see a revolution in the banking sector,” said Jean-Marc Stiegemeier, Korona’s head of management during the launch. “Within ten years cryptocurrency will be used and accepted worldwide.”

“Banking as we know it today will eventually evolve into different platforms. We started this project because we saw the opportunity to take cryptocurrency technology into the future,” he said.

Despite being made primarily by Hungarians, the headquarters of Korona are in Zug, Switzerland. Asked why the foundation was not incorporated in Hungary, the team answered that Zug is today the crypto-valley of Europe: it is more efficient and more stable, two things both customers and shareholders are looking for.

According to a recent study by Cambridge Judge Business School, customers are increasingly adopting new forms of payments for cost efficiency reasons, not least as banking fees are increasing every year. The Bitcoin network is used as a main payment stream for cross-border transactions by 86 per cent of those payment companies surveyed. However, it has serious problems in terms of transaction times, scalability, and the flexibility to build smart contracts on its system.

“Bitcoin is slow and too expensive for businesses. It costs 20 US dollars for each transaction and it is not efficient for retailers,” Korona’s advisor and professor at the Corvinus Business School Dr Tuan Trinh explained. “The crypto economy 2.0 is based on three pillars: a digital payment platform, a crypto bank and Korona coin,” he continued.

But how does it work? According to Attila Bustya, head of technology development, an e-commerce website will be launched, hosting all those websites which normally do not accept cryptocurrency payments. Also, a new integrated Price Comparison System will be created so that users can choose their products for the best and cheapest price globally.

“For a top-notch phone we pay more in Europe than in the US, it is not fair,” he said, explaining the value of this new price comparison tool.

“Business clients today find it hard to use cryptocurrency because of high taxation and missing information. We are developing business wallets which will allow businesses to register and receive various services to support their compliance: support for VAT reporting, invoicing, accounting and such like,” he continued.

Korona’s ICO is scheduled for March 26, and it will be immediately available for payments and transfers.